A Minneapolis Family's Excellent Adventures in Bangalore, India and Beyond...

Thursday, September 6, 2007

The Land of Oz

Or was it India? The Fischer's have landed and I have to say that the 26 hours of travel went incrediblywell. I mean, aside from the fact that none of our seats were together (didn't take long to convince people to switch seats...wonder why?? We ended up in 2 rows, one adult to each child.) Grayce started sneezing and running at the nose about 8 hours in. Owen was pretty much a little monkey...wiggling from under his seat belt and pushing every single button in reach 736 times (lights on, lights off, call the flight attendant, lights on again, recline the seat, pop up the tray table...you get the picture). Both kids slept well and at the right time from Chicago to Germany and both made use of their personal video screens while mommy and daddy drank some free wine (in hindsight...not such a great idea when you're traveling for that length of time. But it was free and it did take the edge off ;-)

In Frankfurt we had very little time to drag two VERY crabby, half-asleep kids from one gate to another far, far away...Owen of course had to pee "WIGHT NOWWWW" while on the airport train between terminals and commenced with sobbing loudly upon hearing that it would be necessary for him to "hold it, just a little while." He has a remarkable ability to see things clearly only from his point of view (we refer to this pleasantly as "persistence". May it serve him well.) Grayce claimed that she was unable to walk because her hurting legs were sleeping and she wanted us to go straight home. She didn't seem cheered by the news that we were doing exactly that...?? All of us agree that Lufthansa is by FAR the best airline we've ever flown...wonderful, clean and modern airplanes, video "on demand", patient and friendly flight attendants, a packet of things to do for the kids, and business class seats that pretty much lay flat for sleeping at the touch of a button (or in Owen's case: many buttons) We feel extremely lucky to have flown business class!!!!!!!!! Both kids were charmed by the free in-flight slipper socks and sleep masks...Owen kept his "special long socks" on from Chicago to Bangalore.

We arrived to Bangalore airport around midnight weary and dirty and both surprised and extremely grateful that we were able to quickly get through customs with all of our many bags waiting for us at the baggage claim (and a gaggle of *helpers* waiting too...I kid you not when I say that there were at least 10 angling for the right to help us with the luggage! Bob picked one to be in charge which settled that but we had quite an entourage for while.) Walking out of the airport we were met by a throng of people up against some fencing...and pretty much everywhere. The hotel sent a driver right away but the kids had time to glare grumpily at every person who was kindly smiling at them. Fortunately, people in every culture seem to understand grumpy, tired children...

Grayce and Owen perked up when the driver asked them their names and chatted with us a bit. Bob tells me we nearly hit a cow and ran a red light but having heard what Bangalore traffic and Indian driving is like, coupled with the fact that for the first time ever my kids were without car seats, I was choosing not to notice! We arrived safely at the lovely Taj West hotel and will be here for the next couple of weeks...

The Taj is set on 22 acres...tropically landscaped beautiful grounds all around. We are being waited on hand and foot, which would be easier to enjoy if Owen would remember that 1:30 am is NOT a good time to energetically wake up for breakfast!!! So far, we've stayed on the grounds...napping, playing at the pool, eating and trying to adjust to the time zone. The staff at the Taj seems to think our children are charming...smiling and teasing them, whisking them off, greeting them with their names. We will be changing rooms this weekend for more sleeping space (We're in a nice suite with a king size bed...and a single bed they brought in but neither Grayce nor Owen wants to sleep alone so we are all camped out in the family bed for now...which would be fine for a few nights but not so much for 2 plus weeks...)

Grayce says today that she "Loves India because it is so quiet" (!) I haven't the heart to remind her that there are over 7 million people living in Bangalore...She can't wait to "buy some pretty India clothes" and oohs and aahs over every woman clad in a sari (she's right...they are beautiful.)

Owen went frog-chasing outside with Daddy at 4 am (having been awake since 1 am or so) and has wandered about zombie like all day. Despite this...his cheeks have been pinched and he's been cuddled a dozen times. I can't say he's hating all the loving attention!!!

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"You're moving *where* ?"

Generally, people fall into two camps when it comes to a move across continents. Either they wish they could join you (and subsequently promise to visit) or they think you've lost your mind (and with kids tagging along that is especially true). What ever your thoughts, we invite you to join our family as we journey off to India in search of new career opportunities, travel adventures, the experience of living in a foreign culture and a (hopefully) better understanding of what it means to be a human being on our rapidly shrinking planet.